Classes to begin at eight Model Degree Colleges this year in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Classes at the eight Model Degree Colleges established in educationally backward districts in the State will start from the current academic session with the Higher Education department releasing the list of subjects to be taught in these colleges on Saturday.

The Model Degree Colleges were opened in Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Boudh, Deogarh, Nuapada, Subarnapur and Nayagarh districts. Three streams like Arts, Science and Commerce will be there in these colleges.

As per the notification, while 160 seats will be there in Arts and Science streams, 80 seats will be available for Commerce stream.

Besides the compulsory subjects like English, Odia, Environmental Studies in the three streams, Honours subjects like Economics, Education, Sociology, Political Science, and Anthropology will be available in Arts stream while Honours facility in the subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Botany and Zoology will be available in Science stream. Commerce honours subjects will also available in these colleges.

The gross enrolment ratio (GER) in these districts is lower than the State’s average of 11.3 per cent , which the Government intends to improve to 30% by 2022.

The colleges are to come up under the Central Government’s Model Degree College (MDC) scheme, mooted during the UPA-I regime for the country’s 374 districts with poor gross enrolment ratio (GER). The GER is the number of enrolled students as against every hundred eligible students.

The State has currently 720 degree colleges with a capacity to admit 2.16 lakh students.